Take It Outside
by Jameson Rook
Summary: "If you think you're man enough, you really wanna knuckle up, if you wanna shed a little blood. lets take it outside." I rewatched "Knockout" recently and I think that the Ryan/Esposito fight should have gone down like this...


_**Disclaimer: Castle and all of its characters belong to Andrew W. Marlowe and ABC Productions. "Take It Outside" belongs to Brantley Gilbert. References 3x24- "Knockout", this is how I think that they Ryan/Esposito fight should have gone, if I had written it.**_

**Back in the good ole' days, they knew how to brawl.**

**I'm talkin' real gun slingers, I'm talkin' real outlaws.**

**They'd saddle up, and head on into town.**

**When it was high noon in them old saloons, **

**You knew what was goin' down when they took it outside.**

**Took it outside.**

**When it was man to man, toe to toe,**

**You know they had to go **

**Where nobody's gonna break it up,**

**Not until you've had enough,**

**And if you think you've got the guts, **

**Lets take it outside.**

**If you think you're man enough,**

**You really wanna knuckle up,**

**If you wanna shed a little blood, **

**Lets take it outside.**

"Hey!" Ryan called, jogging down the alleyway after him, his breathing ragged, despite being in excellent condition. Esposito gritted his teeth together as he turned to face him, anger seething from every pour of his body. "You know it's him. Montgomery's the third cop. He's the one who altered those records." Esposito's stomach churned angrily at the idea that his partner could distrust the man that meant so much to both of their careers. His nails dug half-moon shaped cuts into his hand.

"How can you say that? How could you even _think_ that?" He snarled, taking a menacing step closer, his eyes narrowed in anger. "Montgomery brought us on homicide. What do we got? A _picture_?"

"Think about it!" Kevin replied, his own voice matching Esposito's tone harshly. "Why else would he want us to take Lockwood out? Because Lockwood leads us to _him_!" Esposito's eyes darted to the decaying, crumbling bricks of the building next to him. Deep down he knew that Kevin was right, but he'd be damned if he gave up everything that he believed was good and right in the world for some fucking picture. "He's been lying to us! He's been lying to us the whole time." Javier shook his head and turned back down the alley, unable to take any more of Kevin's nonsense ramblings. "Hey!" Kevin lunged after him, his large hand landing on Esposito's shoulder.

That was when he lost it. Everything that had been building, boiling and turning about under the surface of his control erupted. His fist connected with Ryan's face, feeling the _squish_ of flesh giving way under the vicious power behind his knuckles.

Ryan's arms wrapped around his waist and threw him to the wall, the bricks stinging his back through his shirt, but he ignored the pain, and the pounding where the back of his head had hit the bricks. He let loose a feral growl and hurled Ryan to pin him, his fist cocked and ready.

"Go ahead!" Ryan snarled, trying to instigate Esposito to hit him. "Go ahead!" His blue eyes were wild with a flame that Esposito couldn't even really distinguish. Instead of hitting him, he dropped his hand to grasp the other man's shoulders and drove his knee upward into Ryan's stomach, doubling him over in pain.

He stepped back to allow Ryan to stand but he was suprised to feel a fist cracking into the underside of his jaw and knocking him off of his feet. He landed in a grimy puddle of rain water and car oil, the mixture soaking through his jacket. Kevin followed him to the ground, his elbow landing solidly into Esposito's temple, warm blood trickling down into his hair.

He winced as the steady throb grew into a searing pain and he stared up at the foggy night sky. Ryan stood, his chest heaving as his hot breath puffed into the cooler night air, looking like dragon's breath and matching the fiery look in his eyes.

"Get the fuck up, you coward." He roared, bracing his hands on his knees. Esposito staggered to a standing position, swaying on his feet slightly and glared daggers at his partner, not sure when they'd gone from being best friends to whatever the hell this was.

**These days things have changed, there's a lot of talk,**

**Lot of pushin' and shovin', **

**But if you wanna walk the walk, let's have some respect,**

**We got girls in here,**

**Just pay your tab, and lay down your beer, **

**So let's take it outside. Take it outside.**

**It's man to man, toe to toe, you know we need to go**

**Where nobody's gonna break it up,**

**Not until we've had enough, **

**And if you think you've got the guts, **

**Lets take it outside.**

**Well, if you think you're man enough, **

**You really wanna knuckle up?**

**If you wanna shed a little blood, lets take it outside.**

**Lets take it outside.**

Esposito took a deep breath and shook out all of his tense muscles before advancing on Ryan again, his right foot swinging around in a high arc and his heel striking the back of Ryan's head, pitching his body forward.

He stumbled a bit, but regained his balance easily, turning and landing a right hook into Esposito's rib cage, feeling the bones cracking underneath his hand. He immediately recoiled when the blood curdling scream tore from his partner.

He looked at him worriedly through his swollen, bruised eyes, his heart pounding from exheartion and concern for his friend.

"Javier...I'm so-."

"Don't." Esposito snarled, his breathing shallow and pained. He slid his cellphone from his pocket and hit the third speed dial before holding it to his ear. "Beckett, it's me. It's Montgomery. He's the third cop." He whispered, a hot tear sliding out of his eye and down his cheek slowly. Kevin winced as he watched the tear's trecherous path. He ended the phone call without so much as another word and slid it back into his pants pocket.

He pushed past Ryan, knocking him into the wall with his shoulder and continued down the alleyway, trying to hide the limp and bracing his ribs with his forearm.

"Espo, wait." Kevin called after him, but he didn't stop. He continued walking purposefully, determined to get the hell out of that alleyway. He picked up his pace a bit, well, as much as possible. His thigh was throbbing, sharp pains seizing his muscles every few steps.

Kevin didn't follow him. He knew better. They'd both taken enough of a beating for a lifetime, and they both knew that Beckett was going to kill them when they showed up like that anyway. He walked all the way home, not bothering to hail a taxi cab or call someone to give him a ride. He needed time to think, to accept the fact that the man he'd come to think of as a father had betrayed him.

Everyone that he trusted had left him out tro dry his entire life. For some unknown reason, he'd deluded himself into thinking that Montgomery was different. Once again he was proven wrong.

**We're all here for a good time, don't start no trouble,**

**'Cause it won't be the first time**

**I put a scar on my knuckles.**

**Now, brother I don't mind, I'd be glad to stomp your ass,**

**But if both of us walk out that door,**

**One of us ain't comin' back.**

Esposito's hand hung indecisively in the space above the numbers on the door to Ryan's apartment. He had been standing there, not knocking, but not turning and running either, for going on twenty minutes.

He hadn't gone home after their fight, but instead he'd staggered into a cop bar a few blocks away that the boys in narcotics liked to refer to as "The Drunk Tank", and downed more beers than he cared to count. They helped to take the sting out of his wounds, but they did nothing to numb the fact that he had beaten the shit out of his partner. His best friend.

He finally allowed his knuckles to wrap against the door and waited until the door swung inward, revealing a bruised and battered face that he barely even recognized anymore. His breath caught in his throat and he instinctively reached out in front of him, his fingers brushing over the purple and red tinged bruises. Kevin winced but didn't pull away.

"I'm so sorry, bro." He whispered, his voice raspy from not having used it much since they had seen each other.

"Come on in." He muttered, stepping out of the way and giving Esposito a vague gesture to enter. Esposito stepped into the apartment awkwardly, not even sure how to stand there or how to react to the situation that had happened. "I'm sorry about how things happened, Javier."

"Don't be, man. We were both in over our heads." Esposito toyed with the figurines on his mantle absently. "I can't believe that he was in on a murder. Beckett's _mom's_ murder even. This is such bullshit..."

"I know, bro. I know. But there's nothing we can do about it now. He's gone." The call had come in an hour before from Beckett and Castle. Montgomery was dead.

"I don't know who I'm supposed to trust anymore." He whispered.

"Beckett. Castle. Lanie. They're all here for you, man. You've just got to allow them to be there for you and not push them away every time that they try to help. And you've got me. You'll always have me. Until the wheels fall off." He whispered, ducking to look at his partner and pulled him into a hug, cautious of the splintered ribs and bruises they both sported. "I love you, bro. You're like my brother and I wouldn't trade you for the world, no matter what bumps come up in the road."

"Likewise, Kev. Likewise." Javier grinned, and nodded slowly. Perhaps, every now and then, they would need to take things outside for a good old fashioned slug-fest to air out the dirty laundry between the two of them. Just like the good old days.

**Nobody's gonna break it up,**

**Not until we've had enough,**

**And if you think you've got the guts **

**Then lets take it outside.**

**Well, if you think you're man enough,**

**You really wanna knuckle up,**

**If you wanna shed a little blood, lets take it outside.**

**Lets take it outside.**

_** So, thoughts? Reactions? Suggestions? Drop me a review and let me know. Much love, J. Rook**_


End file.
